


The Weight of Things

by yujowheelies



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Asexual Riz Gukgak, Bad Kids Talk About Feelings, Fantasy High Sophomore Year Spoilers (Dimension 20), Fluff, Friendship/Love, Listen I’m Projecting, M/M, Neurodivergent-coded Riz Gukgak, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Relationships, Post Season 2, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:08:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29314611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yujowheelies/pseuds/yujowheelies
Summary: Riz overthinks. Fabian is a gift-giver. What could possibly go wrong?Alternatively: Spring Break has come to pass and our favorite boys have yet to discuss some things...
Relationships: Riz Gukgak/Fabian Aramais Seacaster
Comments: 8
Kudos: 34





	1. Up Late

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo I’m still getting the hang of things on this site so here’s something I threw together! It’s still in progress but I have no idea when I’ll be updating it (apologies in advance). Anyway I love Fantasy High and Fabriz a lot and these boys deserve happiness.
> 
> Also I should probably note that I’m purposefully keeping Riz’s neurodivergency/asexuality vague here because I know that’s not everyone’s thing (though personally, it is mine and I wrote this with both those characterizations of our favorite angel boy in mind) 
> 
> Enjoy!

_It’s embarrassing._

It’s late at night again, and Riz Gukgak cannot sleep. It’s not like he usually does, anyway, but since returning to Elmville after Spring Break the rest of the Bad Kids have been on a bit of a self-care crusade, and Riz can only lie to his closest friends for so long before they notice the bags under his eyes. Riz logics to himself that his body simply isn’t used to sleeping like this. Planned. Sleep was always something that came to Riz as an afterthought and an inconvenience. Luckily, as Kristen has reminded him rather incessantly, it only takes about a week for habits to stick. So maybe he can force himself into a normal routine. 

That would be great, but it’s not just Riz’s unfamiliarity with planned sleep keeping him up. There’s something else. He knows this, having deduced the culprit quite quickly, of course. But any extended thought into the matter was absolutely mortifying, and made Riz’s whole body cringe. 

He couldn’t sleep because he wasn’t comfortable. 

This was... not surprising. Riz, detail-oriented as he is, had always had a plethora of small sensory needs he personally attended to on a daily basis. Certain textures and feelings he made an effort to avoid. Luckily, most people chalked them up to his eccentricity. Learning he was a kid detective, no one questioned his wardrobe or the fact he preferred a briefcase over a backpack. That left, then, the only thing in Riz’s mental list that ever needed verbal addressing: contact. Specifically contact with people. As much as Riz loves the Bad Kids, they can get _really_ touchy. The thing is though, Riz doesn’t always mind it. But one misplaced hand or an odd weight is more than enough to send him stiffening. It was extremely awkward to verbalize these feelings at first, and assure his friends they hadn’t done anything wrong, but before long the gang seemed to get the memo. Thus Riz’s pickiness with friendly contact was written into the Bad Kids’ endless list of unspoken and sacred Friendship Law. 

But all laws are, of course, just threats. An in the face of bigger threat could easily be changed or completely thrown out. And in terms of bigger threats, Spring Break had, in literally every sense of the phrase, complicated things. Complicated everything. 

The Bad Kids were already family before sophomore year, but Spring Break did something different. Deeper. As much as each member valued their individual lives, after Spring Break it seemed like there was rarely a moment the gang wasn’t together, or at least talking all at once on their crystals. Without a second of doubt, Riz considered the Seacaster residence and Mordred Manor just as much his home as Strongtower or his own office. Call it co- dependency or maybe a trauma response, but the Bad Kids were all quite comfortably attached by the hips. And, as Riz quickly deduced, this meant more touching. 

So what did all of this mean for the highly skilled badass Riz Gukgak, currently turning uncomfortably in his bed, hands covering his face in woe and embarrassment? 

Riz wasn’t usually one for excessive emotional introspection, but upon considerable review this was a fairly easy mystery to solve. His best friends, the touching, trying to sleep... and Spring Break. This was the conclusion that now plagued him.

Riz could not stop thinking about being swaddled by Fabian. 

Out of all the things that happened that day in the Forrest, Riz’s first _death_ included, why was being swaddled the thing he couldn’t stop thinking about? It was incredibly embarrassing, and definitely incriminating of some thoughts Riz did not want to consider right now. So he resolved to think about it on it’s own- no branching theories. Thinking about it, to much reluctance, Riz realized that moment was one of his biggest comforts in the Forrest. Sensory specifications notwithstanding, Riz rarely argued against a nice, tight hug after something particularly anxiety-inducing. Being held by Fabian in that moment felt... really nice. Admitting that to himself made his head spin a little, and Riz briefly considered if this is how Fig feels being radically honest before his thoughts snapped back to being swaddled. Maybe it was blood loss or the resurrection magic, but even in the middle of intense battle, the sensation was enough to make Riz quite sleepy in the moment. 

And gods he wish he was sleepy right now. 

Laying in bed currently, Riz considers that it has been a few nights since he made this original deduction. Luckily, the thoughts have not bled into his daytime activities because if he were to drop his guard and offhandedly mention this to anyone, especially Fabian, he might just die again. But it won’t be long before the Bad Kids catch on that Riz hasn’t been sleeping and begin to question him. How was he supposed to reply? “Sorry I recently realized I was only truly comfortable when I was tightly held in my best friend’s magic sheet, and since then have been unable to sleep without thinking about it or trying to mimic the feeling”? Absolutely not.

What a mess. 

So instead of trying to fight it, private eye, badass and Ball Riz Gukgak turned over, tucked himself in as tight as possible, and silently considered what he should do for another 2 hours before sleep finally tugged hold of him.


	2. Table Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riz is confronted. Kristen inquires.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another! It felt odd not separating these bits of story even though they’re very short, so I guess this is my first chapter-ed work? I was very excited to include Kristen so I hope I was able to characterize her pretty well! Enjoy

Riz’s strategy worked for all of two weeks.

He knew his predicament was not fullproof, and it was entirely futile to think so, but he couldn’t help but hang on to the shred of hope that his body would magically get used to sleeping normally and this weird phase would pass. 

It did not. 

And despite having spent nights ruminating on what he would do if the conversation were to inevitably arise, Riz couldn’t stop himself from going rigid at the lunch table when, amidst a lull in normal conversation, fellow Bad Kid and resident cleric Kristen Applebees pointed out that Riz’s eye bags had returned. 

She was right. As much as Riz was trying, he was still only getting maybe 2-4 hours of sleep a night, and that did not cut it for someone trying to avoid eye bags (and suspicion). The multiple cups of coffee his friends had watched him down in the last hour or so didn’t help his case either, but that’s a moot point. 

“Oh... they have?” 

_Dammit._

From across the table, Kristen raises an eyebrow before taking another bite of her sandwich, continuing to talk with a full mouth. 

“Yeah, man. I thought you said you were gonna try sleeping more?” 

Riz sighs. Suddenly, there is no room in his stomach for the rest of lunch. He pushes it away slightly so he can rest his elbows on the table, and decides to take this brief reprieve to survey the rest of the gang, who luckily all seem tied up enough in smaller conversations so Kristen’s observation went unnoticed. That’s good. The last thing Riz needs is to be ganged up against on the subject. 

“I’ve been trying, believe me.” Riz rests his chin against his folded arms, looking up at a quizzical Kristen. “I’m just... not used to it.” 

Kristen swallows her mouthful and pauses briefly, assumedly considering what Riz has just said. 

“I guess so... they do say old habits die hard so I guess it makes sense that it’s not exactly easy for you.” 

Riz sighs, relieved, but it seems his celebration is premature. 

“Other than just... getting into bed or whatever, is there any other things you’re doing that might be messing you up?” At some point Kristen must’ve taken another bite, as she is back to talking with her mouth full. 

Before Riz assumes the absolute worst _(She’s absolutely on to you)_ he takes a second. Right. There are things other than ridiculous, touch-starved thoughts that can throw off an average sleep schedule. Now if his brain could function long enough to think of one that he could use as an excuse. 

Luckily, Kristen is kind enough to do the job for him. He looks up to see her gesture vaguely to his coffee cup, which has long since grown cold and is now more or less there for moral support. 

“You know, if you drink that stuff after dinner it’s gonna keep you up.” 

_Perfect!_

Riz knows that drinking evening coffee would keep him up. In fact, he’s been trying to avoid it on his quest to sleep. Yet, he jumps at the chance to end Kristen’s (fair and understandable) concerned prying and feigns surprise, and a bit of guilt. He picks up the cup and lightly sloshes around its stale contents. 

“Oh... that would do it, wouldn’t it?” 

Kristen nods and shrugs, her sandwich now completed as Riz rattles on. 

“I’ll have to remember that. Who knew trying to break one habit would tie in a bunch of others?” 

Kristen lets out a breathy laugh. “That’s usually how they work, dude, yeah.” And she gives Riz a smile (reassuring? Pitying? _knowing?_ ) before tapping Fig’s shoulder and jumping in to a discussion her and Gorgug seemed to be having. 

Riz tries not to absolutely deflate in his seat.


End file.
